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Them Ardleigh fish. Spectacular. I’m no expert but I get the impression that they are old old ?

We all have captures that we will always remember, for whatever reason. What’s yours? It may be a PB, or it may stick in your mind for another reason. Which ones are your favourite captures and why? The first carp was a mirror I caught on my first trip in 5yrs after afghan, I’d hung up the rods and was undergoing treatment, my counsellor told me to get back fishing so I replaced all my gear, rolled some bait and hit the bank. First rod out, 5mins in the water and it was away, it weighed mid 30s and I was instantly obsessed again. second carp was a 31lb common I caught on a session at a local pond, the wind switched unexpectedly in the night and picked up in force and it totally destroyed my brolly! The bailiff was telling me that this carp had been stolen the night before … I was able to send this pic to him the next morning the 3rd common was my personal target for years, I’d been baiting with my own boilies and he hadn’t succumbed… one winter session I’d forgotten the bait in the rush to the lake, so picked up a few pints of maggots. Fishing pva bags with a Medusa rig baited with maggots produced him at 37lb+ a week before Christmas. That left only one fish on my “hit list” which was no 4 in the pics! The mid 20 linear was also an elusive target. He also fell to the mighty maggots! My last two targets and I braced them. I walked off the lake a happy man that day.

A Thanis should have been at least after each bell/pass...... But that's my Park Lake....🤣🤣

I also found the pics of the first 20lb fish from Trimley top lake

I’m sure this pic is already on here somewhere but seeing as I just found this thread I thought I’d post it here anyway , to this day my biggest and probably best looking fish . 28lb dead .

My first carp I caught off of our doc. I'll never forget it. I was by myself with just my phone for the pic. I had no landing mat yet so I held it the only way I could get a pic. I also took a short video about 10 seconds long. This carp is not my biggest but my first. I didn't have a scale or measuring tape so I could only guess at the weight.

Until a few months ago I hadn't been fishing for over twenty years. Since I've been back I've had some solid results culminating in this cracking scrapper that went 22lb 9. Not the biggest fish but it really put a huge grin on my face.

A full moon on my local river in France , i just had that feeling that i was going to catch , shame it was spawned out but still a cracker , untouched mouth , everyone should buy a permit for fishing in France once in their lifetimes and experience these amazing rivers !

I have some real memorable captures: A 28lb carp from the local river caught on a 3hour session, which for years was my largest fish and one I still class as a PB, my first 20lb fish from Earith, my first 30 from Nazeing Brackens, a 4 fish capture over 4 days in winter from the Central lagoon and my current largest fish at 33lb caught in December. Plus a number of fish from the 350acre Alton reservoir, 2 20's in one night, 23 and 28, a night with 3 20's that was so severe with wind and rain I could not get pics of the fish, my camera and phone were soaked through. Two of the most memorable though were 2 fully scaleds from Ardleigh on the night of the London bombings. Memorable not for the fish especially, but because I had a very close friend who was on the tube when one of the bombs exploded. I had tried to ring him on the first fish, but only got his answer phone, he always answered. Thank god he survived and we still fish together as much as we can. The 2 Ardleigh fish My first 30 at 32lb. It was also my first fish out of Brackens pool at Nazeing.

Lovely to read all your favourites guys well done 👍 I think I've got 3 or 4 main favourites lol, This was the one and only fish I ever put in carp talk early 00's I think 🙄, I had been really struggling to catch anything from this lake, but then I think probably on the advice of someone on here, I prebaited a swim for 2 weeks almost daily tbh after night shifts and all sorts, this one was the first of 5, my first 20lber at 26lb, I had another scraper 20 but I had learnt prebaiting works, I got 5kg of free pellets for that too 😂 Then from more recent times it was these 2 first trip back on Virginia after losing my dad, I had already had the confidence boosting 10 fish hit on the other lake pretty soon before and I felt in the zone, I had done a little baiting but then in evening I had this one New PB 27lb3oz, that alone would have been enough I was buzzing but in the morning I recast a bag into the hole in the weed and it ripped off And this one was the result proper buzzing and I remember the lucky moorhen, not sure it was coincidence or not but it always seems to appear at significant times was here for this one too, my favourite from this year so far 😉

There's a few that bring back special memories but if I had to pick one it'd probably be a low 20 mirror I had 20+ years ago. It was from an 80 acre park lake which held very few carp. I was a million out of my depth at the time and fished it for a year with nothing to show for it but I had a take in the autumn and landed this amazing chocolate coloured mirror. Obviously not massive but to this day it's one of the most beautiful carp I've caught. It sticks in my memory because it was that year that taught me the difference between chucking a bait in the water and waiting, and proper angling (observing and acting on what is observed). I learnt that you could easily waste you life away "sitting it out" and that if you want to catch special carp you need to put the effort in. It was significant as that capture gave me the confidence to target harder waters with bigger fish so ultimately it set me on a path to catch all my other favourite carp. I used to have a snap of the fish off an old disposable camera but it got chucked out by my Mum in the late 00's.......😭😂

Not my pb, but a real good looking fish from long ago. I wheeled him in 100 yds, and he took 1 look at me and went straight back out about 90, so I got to do it all over again. I suppose this one was memorable too, because it was just nasty out, cold and windy and we only got 1 bite, but I got the fish.